Chauncey Hawley Griffith papers

Abstract

The Chauncey Hawley Griffith papers (dated 1903-1969, undated; 5.23 cubic feet, 7 boxes and 3 oversize boxes) primarily comprise manuscript correspondence, drawings, and proofs that document typefaces designed and developed by Chauncey Hawley Griffith, William Addison Dwiggins, and Rudolph Ruzicka for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company in the early- to mid-twentieth century.

Descriptive Summary

Title

Chauncey Hawley Griffith papers

Creator

Griffith, Chauncey Hawley, 1879-1956

Extent

8.6 Cubic Feet

Subjects

Printers.

Type and type-founding.

Drawing.

Type ornaments

Typography.

Graphic design (Typography)

Linotype

Newspaper layout and typography

Arrangement

Collection is arranged into 6 series by subject and format: Typeface design and development, Mergenthaler Linotype Company, William Addison Dwiggins, Personal papers, Design pamphlets and writings, and Photographs.

Collection Overview

Biography / History

Born in a small town near Ironton, Ohio in 1879, Chauncey Hawley Griffith moved with his family to Lexington, Kentucky when he was ten years old. As a young adult, he worked in several capacities for the Lexington news and print industry. He started at the Lexington Morning Transcript as a route carrier and in 1898 managed the advertisement room for the Lexington Herald, where Griffith first had occasion to work with Linotype machinery. In 1906, Griffith began working as a salesman based in New Orleans for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company. He transferred to the New York office in 1915, where he worked as assistant to the president and managed type designing and matrix manufacture until he was elected by the board as Vice President for Typographic Development in 1936.

During his many years at Mergenthaler, Griffith championed economical typeface design and print legibility. He was instrumental in improving the readability of newspaper fonts, particularly with the design of Ionic No. 5, which, introduced in 1926, was the first face specifically designed for newspaper reproduction. It was an instantaneous success and more papers used it than any other typeface at any other time. From this grew the entire family of the famed Linotype Legibility Group: Excelsior, Opticon, Paragon, and Corona. In 1938, Griffith designed the Bell Gothic typeface for maximum legibility in telephone books, where small type and newsprint paper often hindered readability.

Griffith resurrected and adapted numerous historic typefaces, including Baskerville, Janson, Excelsior, Granjon, Monticello, and Poster Bodoni. He also adapted a host of foreign language characters to the Linotype, including Amharic, Devanagari, and other Eastern scripts.

In addition to Griffith's own typeface projects, he solicited renowned artists William Addison Dwiggins and Rudolph Ruzicka to produce original typeface designs for Mergenthaler. Dwiggins's typefaces Caledonia and Electra, along with Ruzicka's Fairfield and Primer, were designed under Griffith's direction and are considered part of the nucleus of what has been called the American classics of type.

Griffith retired from Mergenthaler in 1949, but continued to work for the company as a consultant until his death in 1956.

Sources:

Much Lexington Newspaper History Given By C. H. Griffith, Former Herald Printer Who Now Is Mergenthaler Vice President. The Lexington Herald: 5. August 11, 1937.

The Chauncey Hawley Griffith papers (dated 1903-1969, undated; 5.23 cubic feet, 7 boxes and 3 oversize boxes) primarily comprise manuscript correspondence, drawings, and proofs that document typefaces designed and developed by Chauncey Hawley Griffith, William Addison Dwiggins, and Rudolph Ruzicka for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company in the early- to mid-twentieth century.

The collection also includes Mergenthaler press releases and printed materials that advertise the company's machines and typefaces, writings and prints by and about Dwiggins that demonstrate his design acumen, a partial bibliography of Griffith's personal library, photographs of Griffith and his house, and correspondence and articles by Griffith that reflect his expertise in typography and Linotype printing.

Restrictions on Access and Use

Conditions Governing Access

Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open to researchers by appointment.

Use Restrictions

The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.

Contents of the Collection

Typeface design and development, circa 1925-1968, undated

Constitutes the bulk of the collection, with correspondence, proofs, and drawings that document the development of typefaces by Chauncey Hawley Griffith, William Addison Dwiggins, and Rudolph Ruzicka for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company.
Primarily comprises Dwiggins's drawings and manuscript correspondence, which demonstrate the collaboration between Dwiggins as designer and Griffith as manager to produce economical typefaces for Mergenthaler. Includes original correspondence and drawings from Dwiggins to Griffith, typescript correspondence by Griffith to Dwiggins with suggested typeface design edits, and typescript transcriptions of the original Dwiggins correspondence with explanatory annotations by Griffith.
Also includes correspondence and proofs that document historic typefaces resurrected by Griffith and correspondence and proofs for original typefaces designed by Rudolph Ruzicka under Griffith's direction.
Arranged in subseries by designer and thereunder alphabetically by typeface.

Heads and Bodies: For Use in the Study and Planning of Linotype Newspaper Typography , 1946

The Linotype Development of Typefaces, by C. H. Griffith, circa 1938

Box 72m31-03, folder 9

[...] printed for The Annual of Bookmaking in April, 1938. The typography was planned by W. A. Dwiggins and Paul A. Bennett. The decorative material, designed for Linotype by Mr. Dwiggins, is here shown for the first time.

Typographic records, 1952 February-1953 March

Typographic records, 1953 March-1954 July

Typographic records, 1954 August-1956 September

William Addison Dwiggins, 1925-1965, undated

Comprises small print publications designed by Dwiggins, articles by Dwiggins about typography and printing, biographical writings that describe Dwiggins's life and career, and Puterschein-Hingham prints from the printing press that Dwiggins founded and managed with Dorothy Abbe.

Contemporary title pages, 1930-1932, 1953, undated

Dwiggins and the Borzoi by Alfred A. Knopf, in Publishers' Weekly, pp. 95-97, 1957 June 3

Eulogy booklet, 1957 March

Box 72m31-04, folder 7

Designed and printed by Harold Seeger and Alert Sperisen at their Black Vine Press in San Francisco for The Typophiles, March, 1957. This eulogy was written by Paul Bennett. Set in Dwiggins's typeface, Caledonia.

Two New Type Faces, Two New Books by W. A. Dwiggins in Publishers' Weekly, pp. 1335-1339, 1949 September 10

Personal papers, 1908-1957, undated

Comprises business cards that document Griffith's professional development, membership cards and travel documents pertaining to Griffith's extracurricular pursuits, articles about typography and Griffith's design career, and assorted correspondence with designers and historical institutions. Also includes a partial bibliography of Griffith's personal library, a report by Griffith on the authenticity of the William F. Horn Papers, and a Hobby scrapbook of Popular Mechanic articles.

A Prospectus Giving Particulars and Specimen Pages of the New Oxford Lectern Bible , 1935

Design pamphlets and writings, 1903-1969, undated

Comprises pamphlets, writings, and prints by and about designers. Also includes exhibition gallery guides, essays on design and typography by Mergenthaler Manager of Typographic Promotion Paul Bennett, and CHG to WAD, a proof for a pamphlet on the collaborative relationship between Dwiggins and Griffith by the Atlanta Graphic Arts Library.

The Adams Papers, L. H. Butterfield, circa 1955

Banquet pamphlet to Philip Tell Dodge from the Mergenthaler Linotype Company and the International Paper Company, 1919

CHG to WAD: The Type Director to a Type Designer, proof from the Atlanta Graphic Arts Library, 1955

Box 72m31-04, folder 31

Biographical Spotlighting on the Career of the Linotype Salesman who became Vice President and Director of Typographic Development, Engaging the Originative Talents of William A. Dwiggins and Rudolph Ruzicka and others, Causing Important Uplift in Linotype Typography, Including Some Notes on CHG's Guidance of WAD on Technical Procedures.

An Exhibition of Contemporary American Book Illustration: As Represented by the Work of W. A. Dwiggins, Rockwell Kent, Rudolph Ruzicka, Edward A. Wilson at the Lakeside Press Galleries, R. R. Donnelley and Sons Company, Chicago, 1930

Strathmore expressive printing papers, 1953-1954, undated

What Are Today's Most Popular Type Faces?, [Robert Nicholson], undated

United Nations charter, 1945

Photographs, 1916-1951, undated

Primarily comprises black and white portraits of Chauncey Hawley Griffith and photographs of Griffith's house and lawn. Also includes a photograph of Griffith on the SS Bremen and photographs of Griffith in Mergenthaler offices with Pakistani governor Abdur Rahman Siddiqui and with fellow salesman Harry Porte.

Abdur Rahman Siddiqui and Chauncey Hawley Griffith in the office of the Vice President, Mergenthaler Linotype Company, New York, 1944 December 26

More spray , undated

Birdbath in landscape , undated

Chipmunk on a jar, undated

Sprinkler in yard, undated

Researchers are required to have an SCRC Researcher Account in order to request or order digital copies of materials. Research Account set-up and use instructions can be found at: http://libguides.uky.edu/SCRCaccount

If you are visiting the Breckinridge Research Room, please request materials at least 48 business hours in advance of your arrival.

Researchers are required to have an SCRC Researcher Account in order to request or order digital copies of materials. Research Account set-up and use instructions can be found at: http://libguides.uky.edu/SCRCaccount

If you are visiting the Breckinridge Research Room, please request materials at least 48 business hours in advance of your arrival.